


The Itch

by Dis_connect



Category: Maleficent (2014)
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Crack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-17
Updated: 2014-06-17
Packaged: 2018-02-05 00:53:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1799518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dis_connect/pseuds/Dis_connect
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It happens every few years but what can a fairy do?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Itch

 

 

It drove her quite crazy.  
  
Diaval had always been surprisingly sympathetic and tried to help but as a Man he was clumsy and as a Raven, too small.  Not to mention, he had his own priorities in the spring that Maleficent couldn't help with at all other than to leave him in his natural form as much as possible.  
  
Her great home could provide some comfort but it was temporary at best.  Maleficent would writhe and curl until she found even a moment's relief that would allow her to, finally, drop into slumber.  Yet each new dawn brought more of the same agony and she prayed for a swift end.  
  
On one very sunny, very irritating day, Maleficent eyed the the most sturdy of branches above her head and wondered if five minutes of relief was worth Diaval's mockery should he return too soon.  Her hands curled into fists that then twitched in her lap.  She wouldn't.  Couldn't.  She was Maleficent - a bastion of control and grace.    
  
"Maleficent!  You won't believe what the wallerbogs fou...why are there feathers down here?"  
  
"Stay away, beastie!" Maleficent's heart clawed up her throat, making her voice alarmingly shrill.  Absolutely not.  Queen or no, Aurora would _not_ see her Protector in such a state!  
  
"Are you alright?  These are **your** feathers, godmother!"  
  
Oh no.  She was climbing!  In her panic, Maleficent avoided her magic (she hadn't the heart to use it on Aurora in ages, anyway) and pulled herself further up the rowan's branches, wings and horns catching rather than helping.  
  
"Maleficent?"  
  
"Have you gone deaf, girl?" she growled from hiding.  
  
"Well, how good to know that your temper is still healthy!" Aurora huffed, arms folding over her chest.  She looked rather fetching that day in dark riding pants and a long, light coat; clothes for travel.  The Moors weren't expecting her for another month.  Maleficent wasn't expecting her for another month, which would have given her plenty of time to finish out the nerve-flaying affliction she was made to endure every few years.  
  
"You're home early." the dark fae grumped.  
  
"And you are acting strangely." Aurora called up into the branches.  She could see Maleficent among the heavy cover but what odd behavior!  "If you're unhappy to see me, I can leave."  
  
"Don't be stupid."  
  
Aurora smiled.  "Then come down and greet me properly!"  
  
Wind stirred the branches, scraping one along the base of her right horn.  Maleficent shuddered and hummed, head tilting into the pressure.  The tease washed out all thinking for several precious seconds such that when she came back to reality, her tenatious grip had laxed and gravity took an instant hold.  The dark fae didn't have time to mutter an oath but slipped from her perch to crash down before Aurora in a most ungainly heap.  
  
Maleficent struggled to right herself, fighting with wings that refused to lift her from the ground.  Small twigs, leaves, and downy feathers (some of them Diaval's to her displeasure) stuck in her hair so she hurried to pull them out.  Through the production, she was very conscious of Aurora's bewildered stare.  
  
"...you look terrible."  
  
Maleficent's pale skin burned bright with embarrassment and shame.  
  
Aurora blushed as well, a hand clapping over her mouth too late.  Her Protector reached for the branches again but Aurora caught her wrist.  "Wait!  I...I'm sorry."   
  
She was stone-still as wide eyes drank in the ragged look of usually-immaculate wings and the pale, cracked length of her otherwise jet-black horns.  With more than just her body aching from the fall, Maleficent turned away to escape.  
  
"Maleficent," Aurora pulled with more force than usual, moving around to the fae's front when she refused to turn.  "What is this?  Are you ill?"  
  
"Twenty years and you've never seen a fairy moulting before, beastie?"  
  
It came out with more bite than intended but rather than shy, Aurora's face warped from concern to...  
  
"Are you laughing at me?!"  
  
"No!  No, no..."  
  
Yet the beastly creature had to clear her throat several times and bite her lip when she again looked to Maleficent.  Unamused, Maleficent took back her wrist to fold her arms, refusing to look at the barely-contained Queen.  
  
Aurora let only one or two tiny chortles escape before she reached for Maleficent's left wing.  As the dark fae could deny her nothing, she was still for the roaming inspection, twitching at a gentle, experimental tug.  "Oh, sorry.  I've seen hens moult before...I guess I just never realized you would need to as well."  
  
"You never would have if you were on time rather than early."  
  
Blue eyes rolled and Aurora gave a more deliberate tug to the feathers in-hand, getting glared at but more importantly, getting the fae's head to turn.  "Shall I send word to Phillip's delegation and have them remain another month?  I'm sure we can find something to discuss for that long."  
  
They exchanged glares until Maleficent felt a smile threatening to crack her sour front.  "Are they still throwing that boy at you?"  
  
"He is a man now, godmother."  
  
"Has he grown into his sword at last?"  
  
Aurora colored at the faint euphemism.  "How long does this take?"  
  
"It varies."  Speaking of it brought the itching full to the fore once again and Maleficent's head rolled on her neck.  The rough bark was looking better by the second.  "I've never had to shed both horns and wings at once, though.'  
  
Perhaps having spotted the wanton gleam in Maleficent's eye, Aurora cupped her lean face to draw her attention.  "How can I help?"  
  
"I will be fine, beastie."  
  
The woman that she'd become had certainly picked up on Maleficent's...wicked streak.  It showed in the subtle narrowing of Aurora's eyes.  "You're absolutely certain that if I let you go, you're not going to rut your head against this tree?"  
  
Maleficent laughed rather than gape.  She turned to nip at the Queen's thumb before rolling her eyes up.  "Do you see that branch?  It blew into my home with the last storm.  Bring it down."  
  
Aurora scrambled up and dropped down in less than a minute, twisting the half-dead branch around curiously.  Her dark fae took a seat and sealed her wings as tight as possible.  Aurora offered her the branch but Maleficent shook her head.  "Behind me, beastie."  
  
The dark head tilted back.  "Now, scrape the bark over any white sections.  Like a saw."  
  
"Won't that hurt?"  
  
"Trust me."  
  
Aurora took a deep breath, exhaled harshly, and dragged the branch gently over a brittle white horn-tip.  Maleficent shivered and thin flakes of white crumbled away to expose the more familiar, more comforting black.  Another stroke, more crumbled, Maleficent shivered again.  About halfway to her skull, however, the gentle touch was producing no results.  "I...Maleficent, I have to..."  
  
"Harder, beastie."  
  
Another deep breath, this one held as Aurora raked the bark down with greater force.  The crackled coating fell away but more interesting was the sound Maleficent made.  Aurora took a peek at her face: eyes closed, mouth just open, lightly flushed.  Hm.  "Does this feel good?" she asked on the next stroke.  
  
Maleficent bit her lip.  
  
Aurora's grin was positively evil.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Diaval didn't make it back until late, exhausted from the best of the best courtship swoops and dives he could manage, though it was for naught.  Dismayed, he snapped up a bite to eat before turning for home.  
  
On the way, he spied Aurora's idiotic mount chasing deer instead of his own equine kind.  It raised his spirits for as much as he hated the horse, he was quite fond of his owner and if the stallion was there, that meant Aurora was there.  More likely than not, she was already with Maleficent.  
  
How, then, had his mistress handled her appearance?  She couldn't fly during her moult, her wings were too heavy with feathers to be shed for at least two or three weeks.  And her horns...oh if Diaval only knew just how his mistress dealt with such a problem!  He had once suggested doing as the stags did with shedding their velvet and was turned into a snake for his bothering to care.  
  
As he rounded the turn to his nest, it seemed the problem had already been resolved.  
  
But another was raised.  
  
Really, how was he expected to sleep with those two making such a racket?

**Author's Note:**

> I read something on tumblr about Mal's horns and them relating to her being horny and that crashed into thoughts of what a pain in the ass moulting has to be for her and...anyway. 
> 
> Okay, I'm sorry. I think I'll stop for a while now. XD


End file.
